With my TA Bounty winging it's way to my bank account I have started to think on what bits of kit I need. Being a STAB it will probably see more use camping/festivals etc. I always seem too sweat like a mother fvck in the issue bags.

However the zip wasn't too good, it broke after a few exercises. They may have better zips now. Wasn't too warm either. I was in the 'tab light - freeze at night' gang. It may be allright for festivals and all that stuff though.

I'd rather carry the extra weight now though, and get a decent sleep. I find the softie 9 a decent doss bag, as I also get too hot in the bouncing bomb.

I've had 4 softie variants over the years (3,9 and both "sf" bags) and currently own the us system.
all my softie bags have come apart at the seams and have needed sewing.
so far the us system has worked fine and if you don't need it all you don't need to carry it all!
as for size, the full system seems to be about the same as the issue bouncing bomb

However the zip wasn't too good, it broke after a few exercises. They may have better zips now. Wasn't too warm either. I was in the 'tab light - freeze at night' gang. It may be allright for festivals and all that stuff though.

I'd rather carry the extra weight now though, and get a decent sleep. I find the softie 9 a decent doss bag, as I also get too hot in the bouncing bomb.

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Agree with Rigrat here, I have and used a softie but in the right conditions, but would rather carry the bouncing bomb to cover "all" seasons but it's down to the individual.

Mountain equipment used to do mil green bags (not that you need tactical colours in a bivvy bag...) and I got one of their sleepwalker (?) range. That was an excellent bit of kit, packed down very small and was really much warmer than you'd expect - one ex in leek woke up in about 2 foot of snow and it was still redders (and me crowing it in mostly wet kit!).

Before you send your money on a sleeping bag, have a look at the Haglofs Zenor Pro 2s. Warmth to weight this is better than the Softie 6 and will compress to the same size, in my opinion. Snugpak do not seem to have a rival when it comes to (military) sleeping bags, Mountain Equipment no longer produce the ME TDS range of mil sleeping bags for example.

Before you send your money on a sleeping bag, have a look at the Haglofs Zenor Pro 2s. Warmth to weight this is better than the Softie 6 and will compress to the same size, in my opinion. Snugpak do not seem to have a rival when it comes to (military) sleeping bags, Mountain Equipment no longer produce the ME TDS range of mil sleeping bags for example.

With my TA Bounty winging it's way to my bank account I have started to think on what bits of kit I need. Being a STAB it will probably see more use camping/festivals etc. I always seem too sweat like a mother fvck in the issue bags.

Any know how small the US Issue one folds down to compared to the Snugpak?

Cheers

LVH

p.S I've read the other threads but none state how small the US Issue folds down to....

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The kestrels the tits, but I did notice i get a bit of a static buildup inside, which was odd (dont fancy risking cracking one off ). Got a nice reinforced foot area , easier to clean if youve got your boots in there. Its not as wide as the issue dossbag round the legs though.